County Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister made a big mistake in sitting on an audit that found numerous problems in his department, including faulty handling of nearly $8 million in refunds owed to taxpayers.

As an elected official, McAllister, who is running for re-election in June, does not answer to the Board of Supervisors or to the county’s chief administrative officer. Thus, it was entirely within his purview to decide not to disseminate the 45-page audit completed in March by the New York firm Kessler International. In fact, McAllister did not begin alerting members of the county hierarchy until about two weeks ago after a Public Records Act request was filed. While there is no law or policy that required him to alert anyone to the audit’s existence, as an official government document, paid for by taxpayers to the tune of $73,000, state law requires its release to anyone who asks.

The findings are most disturbing. In addition to improperly withholding nearly $8 million in overpayments by taxpayers, auditors found that some transactions were improperly recorded or not recorded at all, that computer systems were not secure and that records had been altered or deleted without explanation. That is unacceptable.

For his part, McAllister points out that he commissioned the audit, as he has a number of others, in an effort to monitor and improve his office’s performance. He also notes that he commissioned a subsequent study by the county’s internal auditors to examine how the department has done in complying with the Kessler audit and others. In August, it showed compliance on 23 of 35 points. McAllister said this week that just one issue remains and it will be resolved by the end of the month.

We hope so. We also hope that McAllister has learned a lesson about openness in government. It seems he may have, as he has promised to post all future audits online as soon as they are available.